In the field of telephone communications, and particularly with reference to underground installations, much use is made of pressurized cables. The reason for this is that by maintaining cables under pressure, conductors contained therein are, to a great extent, shielded from the effects of surrounding moisture and fluids contained in the ground through which the cables pass. Specifically, such moisture and fluids are prevented from entering pressurized cables by virtue of the pneumatic pressure therein, which tends to serve as a barrier against the penetration of mobile foreign elements.
There are already known devices for introducing pressurized media into and bleeding pressurized media from pressurized cables. These devices serve as well for measuring cable gas pressure and sealing holes made in flash-testing cable. These devices also serve for injecting materials in making cable pressure plugs and for injecting reclamation compounds when reclaiming wet buried PIC cable. Such devices are furthermore used for repairing minor sheath breaks.
In the Bell System Practices Handbook, Section 637-235-201, Issue 4, Mar. 1973, published by American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 1973, there is illustrated a particular coupling which serves the purposes enumerated hereinabove. This coupling will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawing. It serves its purpose in a generally acceptable manner, but there are various problems encountered with this coupling which is the purpose of the present invention to avoid.
More particularly, the above-noted coupling affords problems due to the employment of a vertical pneumatic port which requires an elbow fitting to be installed for proper use. This results in a protrusion of molded rubber with a vertical bushing and fitting which are frequently destroyed or damaged due to their exposure vertically above the cable and coupling. More particularly, these fittings are known to be knocked or kicked off as well as cracked due to maintainance personnel working on the cables or fittings.
Moreover, the known fitting is subject to detachment of metal parts from the saddle employed therein by virtue of the fact that there is insufficient engagement between the metal parts and saddle.
Still further, the known fitting is of limited use having but a single metal fitting generally suitable for performing the single limited function of leading a gaseous medium into a cable or bleeding the gaseous medium therefrom under appropriate circumstances.